Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
This article was downloaded by: [Universidad de los Andes] On: 22 July 2015, At: 09:31 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered Registered in England and Wales Wales Registered Number: 1 Registered Registered office: 5 Howick Place, London, L ondon, SW1P 1WG
British Journal of Educati Studies
Publication details, including instructions f authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rbje20
EDUCATION WITHOUT THE Wilfred Carr
a
a
University of Sheffield Published Published online: 05 Jul 2010.
To cite this article: Wilfred
Carr (2006) EDUCATION EDUCATI ON WITHOUT WITH OUT THEOR THEO RY, Britis of Educational Studies, 54:2, 136-159, DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8527.2006.0034 To link to this article:
http://dx.doi.org/10.111 http://dx. doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8527.2006.003 1/j.1467-8527.2006.00344. 44.
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Sign up to vote on this title
Useful accuracy the Not usefulof all the Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our pla However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Sign In
Upload
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
expressly forbidden. Terms Terms & Conditions of access and use can be fo http://www.tandfonline.com/page/ter http://www .tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions ms-and-conditions
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n w
Sign up to vote on this title
Useful
Not useful
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
British Journal of Educational Studies, ISSN DOI number: 10.1111/j.1467-8527.2006.00344.x Vol. 54 , No. 2, June 2006, pp 136–159
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
0007-1005
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY by W ILFRED C ARR , University of Sheffield
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
ABSTRACT: This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it prov an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educationa theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show how what we no call ‘educational theory’ is deeply rooted in the foundationalist discour of late nineteenth and early twentieth century modernity. Third, it ou lines and defends a postfoundationalist critique of the foundationali epistemological assumptions on which our understanding of education theory has been erected. Finally, it argues that the only conclusion draw from this postfoundationalist critique is that educational theo has run its course and should now be brought to a dignified end.
Keywords: educational theory, post foundationalism You'refoundationalism, Reading a Preview Unlock full access with a free trial.
Download With Free Trial Is it not in the nature of things that practice should fall shor the truth of theory? What do you think? (Plato, The Repu 1955, pp. 232–233)
1. INTRODUCTION Sign up to vote on this title When we engage in educational debate it may seem that we are ar Useful useful Not about our fundamental beliefs, whereas what is really fundame are the beliefs that make the debate possible and that are not th
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
is and how it contributes to the development of policy and prac would quickly disintegrate and come to an end. But would not a refusal to accept this belief be simply perve Has not educational theory’s claim to make a unique contributio educational practice been around for so long that it should now accepted as a piece of plain common sense? That all participan the educational theory debate make this claim cannot be denied. what I am going to suggest is that it is an unsupportable claim b on a mistaken and outmoded understanding of what educati theory is and what it can do. For what I am going to argue is educational theory is simply an expression of a widely felt nee ground our beliefs and actions in knowledge that derives from s authoritative, external and independent source. Although this n cannot be denied, I am nevertheless going to argue that no authoritative, external and independent source exists and hence educational theory is nothing other than the name we give to various futile attempts that have been made over the last hun years to stand outside our educational practices in order to exp and justify them. And what I am going to propose on the basis of argument is that the time has now come to admit that we can occupy a position outsideYou're practice and that we should now bring Reading a Preview whole educational theoryUnlock enterprise to a dignified end.1 full access with a free trial. Since my argument is not with some particular version of ed Download With Free Trial tional theory but with educational theory as such, it clearly canno made from within the confines of the debate whose terms of refer it challenges and denies. In what follows, therefore, I will resist impulse to regard ‘educational theory’ as a disembodied con whose meaning has so far proved to be elusive and treat it ins as a cultural invention of the late nineteenth and early twent Sign up to vote on this title centuries that can only be adequately understood byuseful reference to Useful Not highly specific historical background against which it originated evolved. One reason for doing this is to make the point that the con
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
2. A SCHEMATIC HISTORY OF THE EDUCATIONAL THEORY DEBATE Up to the end of the nineteenth century, ‘educational theory’ not exist. There were, of course, a number of canonical tex Plato’s Republic and Rousseau’s Emile are just two – whose authors now commonly referred to as ‘educational theorists’. But in wri the Republic and Emile neither Plato nor Rousseau saw themselve contributing to that twentieth-century academic specialism we call ‘educational theory’. Instead they saw themselves as participa in those political controversies and intellectual debates that provi the historical background and the argumentative context within w their philosophical writings were originally produced. To select extract from these writings a variety of passages that are now regar as ‘relevant’ to education and to call the results ‘Plato’s Educatio Theory’ or ‘Rousseau’s Educational Theory’ is thus nothing less t an act of gross historical misrepresentation. What is lost by this kind of ahistorical thinking is any adeq understanding of the intellectual climate in which what we ‘educational theory’ emerged and of the specific educational conc it sought to resolve. What in particular is lost is any appreciatio how our contemporary understanding of educational theory ha You're Reading a Preview historical roots in thatUnlock late nineteenth-century period wh full access with a free trial. marked the high point of what we now retrospectively characte Download Withthat Free came Trial as ‘modernity’ – the ‘age of reason’ into being in the a math of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. Amongst the m beliefs that modernity legitimised and underwrote was the gen conviction that social progress depended on making our so practices and institutions less dependent on custom, habit, dogma tradition and more firmly based on knowledge that metunive Sign up to vote on this title standards of objectivity and conformed to impersonal Useful Not useful criteria rationality and truth. The name given to the kind of knowledge met these exacting standards was, of course, ‘theory’.
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
of teachers was expressed by the educational reformer, R.H. Qu in the following words, ‘I say boldly that what English Schoolma now stand in need of is theory ; and further that the univers have special advantages for meeting this need’ (quoted in Tib 1966, pp. 4–5). As Quick’s view carried the day and teacher education bega move into universities, so courses in educational theory begi proliferate. Almost immediately these courses took on a recognis pattern such that ‘educational theory’ could be almost exclus defined in terms of certain historically influential philosophical t and a large ancillary literature explaining their central ‘educati doctrines’ (e.g. Rusk, 1918). In 1928, Sir John Adams explained ‘educational theory’ had emerged in this way. When education as such began to be recognised as a subje University curricula, it was only natural that lecturers in educa should look out through world literature for great names where to adorn their lists of prescribed readings. Quite natur Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were seized upon at the very start a good deal of ingenuity was show in bringing out educati principles from their work. (Adams, 1928, p. 32) You're Reading a Preview But although, in its first Unlock institutionalised form, educational th full access with a free trial. was essentially philosophical in character, this did not prevent Downloadagenda With Free Trial emergence of a debate whose was structured around fundamental questions with which we remain all too familiar: ‘W is the epistemological basis of educational theory?’ and ‘How d educational theory relate to educational practice?’ Both of t questions were to be temporarily answered by the publication 1928, of Sir John Adams’ seminal text Sign The Evolution of Educat up to vote on this title Theory : a book that was ‘to serve as a prototype this aspect of useful Useful for Not cation both in Britain and America’ (Rusk, 1961, p. 61). Ada response to the question of educational theory’s epistemolog
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
evolved. But by the mid-twentieth century it became increasi apparent that this consensus was being undermined by change the academic culture caused by the emergence of those powe epistemological doctrines collectively known as logical positivism 1957 there duly appeared an account of educational theory in wh positivist doctrines were fully accepted and endorsed: D.J. O’Conn An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education (O’Connor, 1957) this, O’Connor invoked the central tenets of logical positivism argue that ‘the standards and criteria used to determine wh to count as a genuine theory in science can and should be use judge the value of the various (and often conflicting) theorie are put forward by writers of education’ (ibid., p. 76). Was revealed was that ‘the word “theory” as it is used in educatio contexts is generally a courtesy title. It is justified only when we applying well established experimental findings in psychology sociology to the practice of education’ (ibid., p. 78). The main conclusion O’Connor drew from his argument was t in the positivistic academic culture of the mid-twentieth cent educational theory could only acquire intellectual legitimacy abandoning its concern with philosophical theories and reconstr ing itself as an applied science (O’Connor, You're Reading a Preview 1973). It is thus ha surprising that many educational philosophers resisted this con Unlock full access with a free trial. sion and argued instead that educational theory could only ach Freeof Trial its practical purpose if theDownload pivotalWith role philosophy was preser The main advocate of this view was Paul Hirst who, like O’Con accepted the need to redefine educational theory in the ligh ‘modern analytic philosophy’ (Hirst, 1963, 1966, 1973). He accepted that ‘conceiving educational theory as essentially ph sophical in character involves seriously underestimating the importa Sign up to vote on this title of other forms of knowledge’ (Hirst, 1966, p. 41). usefuldespite th Useful NotBut areas of agreement, Hirst nevertheless insisted that O’Connor’s of educational theory as exclusively scientific was ‘too restrictive’
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
journals and learned societies established, all displaying allegiance to the view that ‘educational theory’ was nothing other the application to education of these four ‘foundation disciplin However, by the 1980s the initial enthusiasm for this ‘foundati approach began to be tempered by growing concerns abou relevance to educational practice. Also, as the philosophical i equacies of positivism became increasingly obvious, so post-positiv forms of theorising began to emerge that suggested ways of con tualising educational theory in which the theoretical and prac weakness of the foundations approach could be overcome. There thus appeared a number of post-positivist contribut to the educational theory debate (Carr, 1980, 1986; Elliott, 1 Hirst, 1983; Pring, 1977) that were not only severely critical of ‘foundation disciplines’ approach but also outlined a view of ed tional theory based on an analysis of the concept of ‘practice’ ra than the concept of ‘theory’. The philosophical arguments insights appropriated for this purpose included Ryle’s distinc between ‘knowing how’ and ‘knowing that’ (Ryle, 1949); Gadam reconstruction of the Aristotelian concept of ‘practice’ (Gadam 1967, 1980); Polanyi’s theory of ‘tacit’ knowledge (Polanyi, 1958, 19 Oakeshott’s notion of ‘practical knowledge’ You're Reading a Preview (Oakeshott, 1962, 19 and Habermas’ account Unlock of full practical reasoning (Habermas, 1 access with a free trial. 1974). Although the ways in which these intellectual resources w With Free deployed were not alwaysDownload the same, theTrial collective outcome was emergence of a philosophical rationale for the interpretatio educational theory as a species of ‘practical’ or ‘personal’ th which emerged through a process of ‘self-reflective inquiry’ in w educational practitioners reflectively exposed and critically exam the theories implicit in their own everyday practice. Sign up to vote on this title As this idea began to receive widespread so the de Useful assent, Not useful began to focus on a number of questions about how this ‘refle practitioner’ view of educational theory could be given prac
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
and tested through further actions (Schön, 1983, 1987). The rese methods and procedures developed to give practical expressio this view of educational theory were the methods and procedure Action Research (Carr and Kemmis, 1986; Elliott, 1991). Although this schematic history of the twentieth-century ed tional theory debate is inadequate and incomplete, it is neverthe sufficient to allow aspects of the debate that have remained invis from within the debate to become more transparent. For exam what now clearly emerges are some of the assumptions gover the way in which the question ‘what is educational theory?’ has b debated and discussed. These assumptions take as given that th is everything that practice is not: that whatever else it is, educatio theory is abstract rather than concrete, general rather than particu context-free rather than context-dependent. In other words, w is now clear is how the educational theory debate has always b predicated on the assumption that, however conceived, educatio theory is not itself a practice that has its source in history and cul and always stands apart from the practice it aspires to affect. With historical hindsight, it is now also transparently obvious although prevailing views about the epistemological foundation educational theory have changed from philosophy to science, the You're Reading a Preview a collection of academicUnlock disciplines and finally to practition full access with a free trial. own ‘theories-in-use’, the logically prior assumption that a prac Trial on some kind of ‘the activity like education is, orDownload shouldWith be,Freebased has never been seriously debated or discussed. What is also appa is how the arguments used to vindicate these different view educational theory’s epistemological foundations were alw intimately related to, and reinforced by, the particular intellec climate in which the debate occurred.SignThus while thediffe up to vote on this title arguments that have dominated the twentieth-century Useful Not useful educatio theory debate may, to their particular protagonists, have been wi regarded as compelling and conclusive, it is now obvious that th
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
the epistemological source of educational theory?’ and ‘How d educational theory relate to educational practice?’ may no lon need to be answered because they may no longer need to be as
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
3. EDUCATIONAL THEORY : A FOUNDATIONALIST PROJECT So far I have suggested that the aspiration to create a bod practically relevant educational theory is a late nineteenth and e twentieth century project of modernity and it is only in the ligh the epistemological assumptions of modernity that we can adequ understand the key episodes in the twentieth-century educati theory debate. What in particular I have tried to show is that it is by continuing to display a tacit allegiance to these assumptions contemporary educational theorists can continue to regard the and purpose of the educational theory project as self-evident and educational theory debate can continue to be coherently pursu These epistemological assumptions are, of course, those sustai that general philosophical discourse now commonly referred t ‘foundationalism’. Strictly speaking, foundationalism does not r to any particular argument or theory but to the general belief the only way that we can adequately You're Reading ajustify Previewour beliefs – the only we can show that they are rational and true – is to show how Unlock full access with a free trial. rest on some basic beliefs – or ‘foundations’ – that do not themse Download because With Free Trial stand in need of justification they are, in some se ‘indubitable’, ‘self-evident’ or otherwise necessarily true. somewhat more formally, foundationalism is a belief about epis justification which holds that a belief is justified if, and only if, i self-justifying foundational belief or can be shown to be ultima based on, or derived from, a foundational belief (Audi, 2003). Sign up to vote on this title Foundationalism has a long and illustrious In par Not useful Useful history. is a legacy of Plato’s image of a high order domain of transcend universal ‘forms’ which could be used to correct the inadequa
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
In the late nineteenth century, it was this Enlightenment asp tion to formulate universal standards of rationality that informed ways in which modern social and political theorists were to de their intellectual ambitions and conduct their academic deba Henceforth, the principal purpose of their intellectual projects wo be to bring the methods and procedures of rational justification critical confrontation with the practices and institutions of all sph of social and political life. Similarly, academic debate would be c ducted in accordance with universal principles of rational argum that were undeniable to all rational persons and therefore imm to the irrational influences of rhetorical persuasion or poli power. In the age of Enlightenment, reason would replace autho and the conduct and organisation of social life would be based knowledge that was demonstrably rational and true. In the ag Enlightenment, the role of the intellectual would be ‘to speak tr to power’. Thus it turns out that the educational theory project was essent a foundationalist project inspired by Enlightenment values and and rooted in the epistemological assumptions of late ninetee and early twentieth century modernity. As such, it was predicated the assumption that educational institutions You're Reading a Preview and practices should governed by theoretical knowledge that rests on rational foundat Unlock full access with a free trial. that are invariable across contexts and cultures, stand apart from Download Free Trial partisan or political concerns andWith thus provide an external refere point from which the rationality of educational beliefs and pract can be independently adjudicated and assessed. Understood in way, the overriding purpose of the educational theory project wa accomplish two related tasks. The first was essentially philosoph to identify epistemological foundations Sign forupeducational theory to vote on this title would enable educational practice to be erected rational princ useful Useful on Not that are more objective and rational than mere belief of unexami practice. The second was essentially practical: to replace the con
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
conditions that have sustained the educational theory debate longer exist? Should our failure to provide conclusive answers to core questions posed in the educational theory debate no longe seen as something to do with our inability to construct ration compelling arguments and everything to do with the foundation assumptions internal to the debate itself? Since these are quest about the validity of the foundationalist discourse through which educational theory debate is conducted, they clearly cannot explicitly formulated and addressed as part of the debate itself. T can only be addressed by employing a mode of discourse tha allowing the epistemological assumptions of foundationalism to put to the question, allows the possibility of denying what educati theory promises to achieve. The name usually given to this disco is postfoundationalism.
4. EDUCATIONAL THEORY : A POSTFOUNDATIONALIST CRITIQUE ‘Postfoundationalism’ refers to a mode of philosophical disco which acknowledges that the irreversible changes to the way which we now understand and relate to the ideas and belie modernity have been soYou're profound that forms of theorising Reading a Preview continue to rely on foundationalist assumptions are no lo Unlock full access with a free trial. acceptable when we try to make sense of the contemporary wo DownloadisWith Moreover, postfoundationalism notFreea Trial transient intellectual fash that can easily be dismissed as ‘some kind of radical abrogatio intellectual responsibility’ (Blake et al ., 1998, p. 25). On the cont postfoundationalist ideas have been articulated from within a ra of philosophical traditions as diverse as Anglo-Saxon analy philosophy (Wittgenstein, 1953); German hermeneutics (Gada Sign up to vote on this title 1980; Heidegger, 1962); American neopragmatism (Putnam, 1 Useful Not useful 1981; Quine, 1964; Rorty, 1979, 1982); French poststructura (Derrida, 1978; Lyotard, 1984) and neomarxist critical th
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
neutral observation language’, ‘no telling it as it is’, ‘no view f nowhere’, ‘no escaping politics’ – are all intended to convey reinforce postfoundationalism’s central claim: ‘that there are foundations of knowledge, no grounds exterior to ourselves guarantee the truth of our factual claims’ (Blake et al ., 1998, p. These postfoundationalist slogans are underwritten by a rang philosophical arguments that collectively show how any idea tha can occupy a position outside of history and culture is a myth – we are always interpretively situated within, and constrained by particular discourses learned and acquired in becoming a particip in a historical culture. Since there is no way for us to stand out such discourses – since our sense of who and what we are is al shaped by the particular discourses circulating in our own histor context – it follows that there can be no privileged epistemolog position that will enable us to transcend the particularities of culture and traditions. It follows from this that knowledge is n disinterested or independent but is always situated within a hi ically contingent mode of discourse beyond which it is impossibl stand. To believe otherwise is, in Richard Rorty’s words, simp futile attempt ‘to step outside our skins and compare ourselves something absolute … to You're escape from the finitude of one’s time Reading a Preview place, the “merely conventional” and contingent aspects of o Unlock full access with a free trial. life’ (Rorty, 1982, p. 6). Download arguments With Free Trial are as varied as they Although postfoundationalist numerous, their overall purpose is always the same: to demonst the impossibility of ever achieving what foundationalism promise showing that all the candidates for the privileged status of episte logical foundations that have been invoked in order to acq knowledge that escapes the distorting influence of history,tradi Sign up to vote on this title and practice, are always themselves the product tradi Useful of Nothistory, useful and practice. As Stanley Fish puts it, what postfoundationa teaches is:
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
are identified and marshalled, will be inextricable from the so and historical circumstances in which they do their work. In sh the very essentials that are in foundationalist discourse oppose the local, the historical, the contingent, the variable and rhetorical, turn out to be irreducibly dependent on, and ind functions of, the local, the historical, the contingent, the vari and the rhetorical. (Fish, 1989, pp. 344–345)
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
But if, as Fish insists, ‘foundationalist theory is implicated in everyt it claims to transcend’ (ibid., p. 345), then it turns out that, far f being a special activity that is conducted from outside of prac educational theory is itself a historically formed practice inextric from the local and parochial contexts within which it is produ and always embedded in, and dependent on, the kind of contin norms, values and beliefs that it claims to examine and assess in practice of others. From a postfoundationalist perspective, the rea why educational theory has failed to achieve its stated goals because formulating universal theoretical generalisations ab education is a complex goal that is difficult to achieve bu impossible goal that can never be achieved. It can never be achi because, far from beingYou're ‘universal’ or ‘general’ such theore Reading a Preview generalisations are alwaysUnlock abstractions from the malleable worl full access with a free trial. practice and thus always shaped by the very features of practice Download With Free Trialtheory claims to transc particularity and contingency – educational From a postfoundationalist perspective, educational theory’s as tion to govern practice from the neutral perspective of an abi general rationality is a futile aspiration because the norms, rules conventions governing its own practice are themselves local ra than general, contextual rather thanSign abstract and derive f up to vote on this title educational theory’s own contingent history. this perspec Useful From Not useful educational theory cannot inform practice because it is itself a for practice. Educational theorists cannot abstract themselves from
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
has recently been undertaken with some clarity by Richard Pr in his book Philosophy and Educational Research (Pring, 2000). Pring conducts this task by first endorsing the postfoundation argument that there are no unmediated facts and no neu observations. ‘Facts,’ he writes, ‘are not the sort of thing one obse independently of a particular way of describing the world what we observe depends on the concepts and beliefs we brin these observations’ (op. cit., pp. 74–76). The second stage of argument is to confirm the postfoundationalist insight that e educational practice, like every observation, presupposes a framew of values and beliefs. As he puts it, ‘practice is partly defined in te of the intentions, beliefs and values of teachers and the beliefs values built into the institutional and social context within teachers perceive their task’ (op. cit., p. 126). The conclusion draws from this is that every practice is underwritten by some the ‘no practice stands outside a theoretical framework … that framework of interconnected beliefs’ (op. cit., p. 127). And conclusion Pring draws from this conclusion is that the purpos educational theory is to enable practitioners to reflectively exp their tacit theory in order to critically examine the theore assumptions underlying their Thus he writes: You're practice. Reading a Preview Unlock full access with a free trial. Theory refers to the articulation of the framework of beliefs understandings whichDownload are embedded in … practice … S With Free Trial a theoretical position is what we bring to our observation the world and our interpretations of those observations …, when articulated … it is open to critical scrutiny. To exam practice requires articulating these beliefs and understandings exposing them to criticism. Such a critique could be pursue Sign up to vote on this the light of evidence or conceptual clarification. Intitleother wo Useful Not useful one is committed in being ‘practical’ to theoretical assumption some sort; and one is committed in accounting for one’s prac
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
so as to include the former as well as the latter. But just as clearly consequence of so doing is to make the notion of theory trivia making it another name for ordinary everyday practical beliefs. To treat practitioners’ beliefs as synonymous with their ‘theore assumptions’ not only renders the notion of theory vacuous; it misrepresents postfoundationalism. For although the insight ‘every practice is defined in terms of the intentions and beliefs of teacher’ is certainly a postfoundationalist insight, this does not m that ‘one is committed in being practical to theoretical assumpt of some sort’ (op. cit., p. 129). What practitioners are committe is not a theory but a set of beliefs and, in reflecting upon t beliefs, what they are making explicit is not their theoretical assu tions but that cluster of related beliefs which provide them with t interpretive understanding of their practice and the context wi which their practice takes place. In ‘articulating’ their beliefs in way, practitioners are neither engaging in ‘theoretical activity’ articulating their ‘theoretical position’. What they are articula are the beliefs that underwrite their practice not their allegia to some theory. But, even if we are persuaded by Pring’s argument to label activity of critically reflection a ‘theoretical activity’, difficulties still You're Reading a Preview Far from being a neutral Unlock activity that can be undertaken from s full access with a free trial. impartial standpoint, ‘critical reflection’ is itself always condu Download With Free within a set of assumptions, beliefs andTrialpractices – in Pring’ concerning what is to count as ‘evidence’ and what constitutes appropriate methods and procedures of ‘conceptual clarificatio that are peculiar to some particular and hence partial understan of what the activity of ‘critical reflection’ involves. So although undoubtedly true that there is a difference between those‘refle Sign up to vote on this title practitioners’ who critically examine their practices ‘on the bas Useful Not useful evidence and conceptual clarification’ and those who practice in a m or less routine and uncritical way, this is not a difference betw
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
Hirst, 1983). What they all have in common is a pattern of reason that begins by accepting the postfoundationalist insight that th can be no perspective that is independent of any contextu dependent interpretive standpoint, but ends up by re-inventing foundationalist view of educational theory it claims to replace. W postfoundationalism implies is that ‘reflective practice’, ‘critiq ‘critical reflection’, ‘practical theorising’ and the rest are no than ‘theoretical justification’, the names for activities that can performed only from within – and never from outside – the assumpt and beliefs that form the taken-for-granted background aga which these ‘theoretical activities’ acquire their particular and, therefore, the names for activities that are themselves al embedded in, and never independent of, the kind of contextu embedded values and beliefs they seek to reflectively recover critically assess. What postfoundationalism teaches is that critical perspective we have on some of our practices will alway grounded in other of our practices; that our assumptions and be cannot be made the object of our ‘practical theorising’ because provide the indispensable precondition to our ‘practical theorisi that however it is construed, ‘educational theory’ can never en us to occupy a position outside our apractical beliefs because be You're Reading Preview constitute the necessary Unlock context within which educational th full access with a free trial. takes place. As Stanley Fish puts it, ‘Beliefs are not what you th Withit Free about but what you thinkDownload with and is Trial only in the space provi by their articulation that … the activity of theorising goes (Fish, 1989, p. 326). What this means is that any version of educational theory claims to enable us to acquire some kind of independent theore justification for our educational beliefs Sign and practices can only up to vote on this title started if the first lesson of postfoundationalism ignored. W Useful Notisuseful postfoundationalism teaches is that no such justification is, or will be, available and that we should now recognise that the justi
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
5. EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY ? For reasons that are entirely understandable, this is a conclusion most educational theorists will want to reject and those who do dismiss it out of hand will probably regard it as hopelessly misgu and confused. If my argument does manage to elicit any kin response, this will almost certainly take the form of a serie counter-attacks in which a number of familiar arguments thou fatal to my postfoundationalist position will be invoked. If because it offers an opportunity for me to further clarify and def my position, it may be useful to anticipate and reply to three of more predictable objections that my argument is likely to attrac One objection to my argument will undoubtedly involve dem strating how postfoundationalism relies on a self-refuting relativ Typically, this objection starts by asking whether the postfoundat alist claim that there is no objective truth is itself to be regarde objectively true or as relative to a particular historical culture. If former, then postfoundationalism, by exempting itself from its insight, is thereby contradicting the very position it proclaims. B it is not – if, that is the postfoundationalist doctrine is itself rela to time and place – then there are noa Preview rational grounds for accep You're Reading it as true. Harvey Siegel has used just this kind of argum Unlock full access with a free trial. to dismiss the criticisms of postfoundationalism made by so Download With Free Trial ‘postmodernist’ philosophers. … criticisms of foundationalism … face huge difficulties as appear to presuppose what they want to reject. For example [the] postmodernist wants to reject the possibility of obje knowledge but apparently regards it as an objective fact ab Sign up on this title the world that a subjects knowledge ofto vote that world is alw Useful Not useful pre-interpreted and that knowledge istherefore never objectiv Similarly, the postmodernist insistence that there is no privile
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
postfoundationalism asserts is that no such source has ever b shown to exist, that claims to have discovered some such ‘foun tions’ are themselves always culturally and historically embed and thus have always been vulnerable to refutation on the basi forms of argument and types of evidence that are themselves rela to different historical and cultural contexts. Postfoundationalism d not exclude itself from such critical refutation and thus does exclude the possibility that it may itself, at some future time, be criti repudiated on the basis of other forms of argument and evide and replaced by some yet to be developed ‘post-postfoundationa discourse. Postfoundationalism can, therefore, without contradict include its own thesis within its own scope. The only appropr response to Siegel’s criticism is simply to point out that since it criticism that can only be made from within a mode of discourse presupposes that knowledge must be either ‘objective’ or ‘relat it is a criticism that presupposes, and is only intelligible within, kind of foundationalist discourse that postfoundationalism repudi and rejects (Bernstein, 1983). A second predictable counter-argument to my thesis will inv showing how it is simply a matter of historical record that educatio theory has, on many occasions, provided You're Reading a Preview the theoretical basis educational policy and practice. To this end, numerous exam Unlock full access with a free trial. will be cited – for example the practical influence of Burt’s psy Download Trial and 30s and of Piag metric theory of intelligence in With theFree 1920s theory of cognitive development in the 1970s – all of which consti a powerful empirical refutation of my thesis that education is n grounded in educational theory. But to claim that education is never grounded in educatio prac theory is not to deny that educational theory ever has any Sign up to vote on this title influence but to insist that this has nothing doNotwith useful its claim Usefulto provide education with a theoretical rationale. Educational theo can indeed have very real practical influence but this is no diffe
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
educational theories and the processes through which educati policies are formulated and practical educational decisions made. In an educational community in which it is generally beli that educational theory is relevant to the formation of educati policy or the improvement of practice – that is in a communit which theory has acquired status, legitimacy and respect – educat theory will be practically influential in the sense that employin vocabulary and appealing to its ‘findings’ will be regarded as components of a rhetorical and political strategy for presenting vindicating some educational point of view. But in an educati community in which theoretical discourse cannot, or will not, f these rhetorical and political purposes – when, that is, it no longer any polemical currency – educational theory may well be subje to a ‘discourse of derision’ (Ball, 1990) and dismissed as not other than ideology and propaganda. In both cases the prac influence of educational theory will have been determined by l and contingent factors and will vary according to shifting config tions of political expediency, dominant interest and vested po In both cases, the practical role played by educational theory have been ‘political’ and ‘rhetorical’ not ‘theoretical’. The way in which educational You're Readingtheory a Previewperforms this essent rhetorical and political function can be illustrated by conside Unlock full access with a free trial. the influence of Cyril Burt’s psychometric theory of intelligence on With Free Trial selective system of BritishDownload secondary education in the first ha the twentieth century. It is indisputable that this mode of theore discourse permeated and infected the language of education to s an extent that its central concepts – ‘intelligence’, ‘IQ’, ‘acade ability’, ‘educability’ – became normative for educational po and unreflectively asserted in everydaySigneducational practice. up to vote on this title if my argument is correct, the extent to which Useful useful theore Not this discourse penetrated the discourse of education does not s that psychometric theory provided the ‘theoretical rationale’
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
My argument then is that practical significance is not someth that educational theories intrinsically have but something happens to some educational theories but not others; that quest about the impact, relevance, or influence of educational theory not philosophical questions about theory’s unique epistemolog status, but specific, empirical questions that can only be answe by detailed historical inquiries aimed at uncovering the local contingent factors – historical circumstances, political climate i tutional needs, economic and cultural conditions – that alone explain why some educational theories were practically influen and why others were of no practical consequence at all. What s inquiries will always acknowledge is that the influence of educatio theory on educational practice can take a number of different fo all of which can be shown to have their source in human history none of which validate theory’s claim to influence practice fro position outside history. Perhaps the most strident attack on my argument will come f those who insist that abandoning educational theory would m that education could no longer be based on a principled ration and would simply revert to a state of pre-theoretical ignoranc which policy and practiceYou're wereReading governed by the dictates of poli a Preview ideology, prevailing fashion and subjective beliefs. On this view Unlock full access with a free trial. abandon educational theory would be to deprive education of With Free Trialtruth and thus prod concern with objectivity,Download rationality and a climate in which policy and practice would no longer be subjec any rational constraints. But this prophecy would only follow if my argument abandoning educational theory was also an argument abandoning all rational constraints. However, my argument is Sign up to vote on this title that rational constraints should be removed butthat their episte Not useful Useful authority is never epistemological and theoretical but alw practical and contextual. Moreover, my case for abandon
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
6. CONCLUSION Since the beginning of the twentieth century, educational th has taken many different forms. But what has never changed is fundamental assumption that, by occupying an independent neutral position outside the field of educational practice, educati theory can act as an arbiter for assessing the rationality of educati beliefs and practices. Thus the prevailing image of educational th remains that of something that informs practice without itself b a form of practice, as something that releases educational prac from its dependence on contingent norms and constraints with itself being dependent on contingent norms and constraint something that can infuse educational practice with the rational so patently lacks. This image is displayed in educational theo portrayal of itself as a unique source of rationally vindica educational knowledge. And it is continually being reinforced educational theory’s claim to be the custodian of the intellec virtues of objectivity, validity and truth. One of my purposes has been to show how this image derives f the culture of modernity in which the twentieth-century educati theory project was initially formulated. Another has been to s You're Reading a Preview how the foundationalist discourse endemic to this culture contin Unlock full access with a free trial. to set the terms of the contemporary educational theory debate. Trialfoundationalist disco my main aim has been toDownload argueWith thatFreethis has now been superseded by a postfoundationalist discours which forms of theorising that continue to depend on founda ist assumptions are deprived of any intellectual credibility. And general thesis I have pursued on the basis of this argument is inf the aspiration to create a body of educational theory that can Sign up to vote on this title and guide educational practice was, and still Useful remains, Not usefulan essent foundationalist project that no longer has any place in the p foundationalist culture in which we now live.
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
for ‘theoretical justifications’ for educational practice and fin concede that there are no epistemological foundations that en us to determine whether what educational practitioners believe t true really is true. The argument I have employed in support of this conclusio itself an essentially theoretical argument that I have constructe accordance with the norms and standards of rationality that const the practice of educational theorising. But the fact that I h denied that these constraints are, or ever could be, rooted in so epistemological foundations – the fact that I now understand m to be interpretively situated – neither frees me from these constra nor releases me from my particular situation. Nor does my insiste that the epistemic status of the norms and standards of ration governing the practice of educational theory is always conting and contextual do anything to discredit their validity. To draw conclusion from my argument would be to assume the possibilit identifying some independent criteria against which the ratio validity of these norms and standards could be justified assessed. But of course to assume this would be to resurrect the foundationalist assumption that my postfoundationalist critiqu educational theory has sought to repudiate You're Reading a Preview and reject. Should the educational theory project now be abandon Unlock full access with a free trial. Although I have argued that it should, I have carefully resisted With Free Trial that is ‘justified by suggestion that this is a Download recommendation ‘follows from’ my argument. For me to claim this would be to exe my theoretical argument from its own insight – to attribute ‘prac implications’ to the theoretical argument that educational th does not have ‘practical implications’. But although my argum cannot provide a theoretical justificationSign forup toabandoning the ed vote on this title tional theory project, this does not negate the possibility Useful Not useful of it ha the kind of practical influence that any theoretical discourse have as a mode of rhetorical persuasion. Whether or not my argum
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
2. For a discussion of the significance of postfoundationalism for the philosop education in particular, see Van Goor et al . (2004).
8. R EFERENCES
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
ADAMS, J. (1912) The Evolution of Educational Theory (London, Macmillan). ADAMS, J. (1928) Educational Theories (London, Ernest Benn). AUDI, R. (2003) Epistemology: a Contemporary Introduction (London, Routledge BALL, S. J. (1990) Politics and Policy Making in Education (London, Routledge) BLAKE, N., SMEYERS, P., SMITH, R. and STANDISH, P. (1998) Thinking A Education after Postmodernism (Oxford, Blackwell). BERNSTEIN, R. J. (1983) Beyond Objectivism and Subjectivism: Science, Hermeneuti Praxis (Oxford, Blackwell). CARR, W. (1980) The gap between theory and practice, Journal of Further and H Education , 4, 60–69. CARR, W. (1986) Theories of theory and practice, Journal of Philosophy of Educ 20 (2), 177,186. CARR, W. (1995) For Education: Towards Critical Educational Inquiry (Bucking Open University Press). CARR, W. and KEMMIS (1986) Becoming Critical: Education, Knowledge and research (Brighton, Falmer Press). DERRIDA, J. (1978) Writing and Difference , trans, A. BASS (London, Routledg Kegan Paul). EAGLETON, T. (2003) After Theory (Basic New York). You're ReadingBooks, a Preview ELLIOTT, J. (1987) Educational theory, practical philosophy and action rese full access with a free trial. British Journal of Educational Unlock Studies , 25 (2), 149–169. ELLIOTT, J. (1991) Action Research for Educational Change (Milton Keynes, O Download With Free Trial University Press). FISH, S. (1989) Doing What Comes Naturally (Oxford, Clarendon Press). FOUCAULT, M. (1974) The Order of Things (London, Routledge). GADAMER, H-G. (1967) Theory, technology, practice: the task of the scien man, Social Research , 44, 529–561. GADAMER, H-G. (1980) Practical philosophy as a model of the human scie Research in Phenomenology , 9, 74–85. Sign up to vote on this title GEERTZ, C. (1977) Interpretation of Cultures (Basic New Useful Not York). useful Books, HABERMAS, J. (1972) Knowledge and Human Interests , trans. J. SHAPIRO (Lon Heinemann).
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Upload
Sign In
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
KUHN, T. (1962) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Chicago, Chicago Univ Press). LYOTARD, J-F. (1984) The Postmodern Condition: a Report on Knowledge G. BENNINGTON and B. MASSUMI (Manchester, Manchester Univ Press). MITCHELL, W. J. T. (1985) Against Theory: Literary Studies and the New Pragm (Chicago, University of Chicago Press). MOUZELIS, N. (1995) Sociological Theory: What Went Wrong? (London, Routled O’CONNOR, D. J. (1957) An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education (Lon Routledge and Kegan Paul). O’CONNOR, D. J. (1973) The nature and scope of educational theor G. LANGFORD and D. J. O’CONNOR (Eds) New Essays in the Philosop Education (London, Routledge and Kegan Paul). OAKESHOTT, M. (1962) Rational conduct. In Rationalism in Politics (Lon Methuen). OAKESHOTT, M. (1972) Education, the engagement and its frustratio R. F. DEARDEN et al . (Eds) Education and the Development of Reason (Lon Routledge and Kegan Paul). PLATO (1955) The Republic , trans. A. D. P. LEE (London, Harmondsworth). POLANYI, M. (1958) Personal Knowledge (Chicago, Chicago University Press). POLANYI, M. (1966) The Tacit Dimension (New York, Doubleday). PRING, R. (1977) Common sense and education, Proceedings of the Philo of Education Society of Great Britain , 11, 57–77. PRING, R. (2000) Philosophy of Educational Research (London, Continuum). Papers:a Preview Language and Reality (Cambr PUTNAM, H. (1975) Philosophical You're Reading Cambridge University Press). Unlock full access with a free trial. PUTNAM, H. (1981) Reason, Truth and History (Cambridge, Cambridge Univ Press). With Free Trial Point of View QUINE, W. (1964) From a LogicalDownload (Cambridge, Harvard University P RORTY, R. (1979) Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (Princeton, NJ, Princ University Press). RORTY, R. (1982) Consequences of Pragmatism (Minneapolis, Universi Minneapolis Press). RUSK, R. R. (1918) Doctrines of the Great Educators (London, Macmillan). Studies RUSK, R. R. (1961) Sir John Adams, British Journal , 10, 4 SignofupEducational to vote on this title RYLE, G. (1949) The Concept of Mind (London, Hutchinson). Useful Not useful SCHÖN, D. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner (London, Temple Smith). SCHÖN, D. (1987) Educating the Reflective Practitioner (London, Jossey-Bass).
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join
Search
Home
Saved
0
35 views
Sign In
Upload
Join
RELATED TITLES
0
Education Without Theory by Wilfred Carr
Uploaded by Anonymous dh9lQyhs
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
This paper proceeds through four stages. First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. Second, it uses this historical narrative to show ho… Full description
Save
Embed
Share
Print
Download
1
of 26
differentiation of instruction for
Da� AISE Chp06 Final
Herman Cappelen,
Search document
EDUCATION WITHOUT THEORY
WHITE, H. (1987) The Content of the Form: Narrative Discourse and Historical Repre tion (Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press). WITTGENSTEIN, L. (1953) Philosophical Investigations, trans. E. M. ANSCO (Oxford, Blackwell). Correspondence
Professor Wilfred Carr University of Sheffield School of Education 388 Glossop Road Sheffield S10 2JA E-mail: w.carr@sheffield.ac.uk 5 1 0 2 y l u J 2 2 1 3 : 9 0 t a ] s e d n A s o l e d d a d i s r e v i n U [ y b d e d a o l n
You're Reading a Preview Unlock full access with a free trial.
Download With Free Trial
Sign up to vote on this title
Useful
Not useful
Home
Saved
Books
Audiobooks
Magazines
News
Documents
Sheet Music
Upload
Sign In
Join